In 1960, a young woman from England visited a Voice-O-Graph booth in Toronto and recorded a brief message to send to her parents by mail. These voice recordings, a precursor to modern voicemail, gained popularity in the 1930s through machines like Voice-O-Graph booths that allowed people to record messages onto vinyl records for a small fee. The recorded messages were then sent to recipients who played them on home gramophones, common in the early 1900s.
The woman, identified as Cheryl, shared her experiences at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) with her parents in the recording. She mentioned looking at cars, planning to attend the opera, and her upcoming visit to New York. Princeton University associate professor Thomas Levin discovered a similar disc addressed to Cheryl’s parents in the U.K. at a record store in Toronto a decade ago.
Levin has collected over 5,000 such recordings in the Phono-Post archive, preserving these historical audio messages. These recordings, ranging from love letters to personal musings, reflected a unique form of communication from the past. The affordability and ease of sending these voice messages made them a popular choice compared to expensive telephone calls in the early 20th century.
The ability to replay these voice records multiple times on standard gramophones added to their appeal. Machines like Voice-O-Graph booths were widespread across continents, providing a forgotten yet significant form of audio communication. Levin noted that these voice recordings, though replaced by newer technologies like audio cassettes, hold a special place in history as a unique form of personal expression.
Levin’s dedication to preserving these voice messages as a “ghost archive” underscores the value of these recordings as a link to the past. He continues to seek out new records to add to the archive, offering to digitize them for families who no longer have the means to play physical vinyl records. The emotional power of these recorded voices, connected to the essence of the living person, creates a profound and uncanny experience for those who listen to them.